Poltava judge suspected of fraud over fake diploma and illegal payments

Vira Shevchenko, a judge at the Hrebinkiv district court in Poltava region, has been given suspicion by law enforcement officers of committing fraud on a large scale. The key episode of the case is her receipt of significant funds from the state budget while holding an academic degree that lacks state recognition.

Diploma not recognised by the Ministry of Education

According to investigation data, in 2007 Shevchenko received a PhD diploma in the field of law. This document was issued by the public organisation "International Personnel Academy" and MAUP. However, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine did not approve the decision to award such a degree and did not recognise this document as state-issued.

Despite the lack of official status, from 2016 to 2026 the judge received a monthly surcharge of 15% of her salary for her academic degree. According to investigators, during this period she may have illegally appropriated nearly 467,000 hryvnias of budget funds.

Acknowledgement of the document's "fakeness"

During an interview at the Higher Qualification Commission of Judges on 15 October, Vira Shevchenko admitted that her diploma is "fake". At the same time, she insisted that she had not deceived anyone. Previously, the judge publicly called information about this document "nonsense", and anti-corruption organisations, including "Avto Maidan", "pseudo-public".

Other financial circumstances

The case materials also include questions regarding other financial transactions and the judge's property. Specifically, they concern:

• making decisions in her own interest for an amount of approximately 800,000 hryvnias;
• buying out her ex-husband's apartment for 402,000 hryvnias, despite having a debt of 13 million hryvnias;
• the circumstances of purchasing other real estate and cars.

These facts require separate verification and proper confirmation during the pre-trial investigation.

Judge's status and family ties

Vira Shevchenko is the sister of Nataliia Shevchenko, a former judge at the Kyiv District Administrative Court, who is linked to the so-called "Vovk tapes" case.

Previously, the HCCJ, together with the Expert Council, found Vira Shevchenko to be non-compliant with integrity criteria and terminated her participation in the competition for the position of judge at the Specialised District Administrative Court. Currently, she continues to work as a judge at the Hrebinkiv district court.

Further decisions regarding the judge's status must be made by the authorised bodies of judicial governance. It is worth noting that the notification of suspicion is not proof of guilt, which must be established in the manner prescribed by law.